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December 14, 1837 will be forever remembered in the memories of the people of St-Eustache.

On this cold winter day, Doctor Jean-Olivier Chénier and a hundred or so patriots of Saint-Eustache and surrounding parishes bravely faced 2000 men led by British General Colborne.

Barricaded in the church, the presbytery, the convent, the manor, and some houses in front of the town square and along main street, Chénier’s companions were not able to oppose for a very long time Queen Victoria’s troops.

In less than two hours, all of the village was encircled and became an easy prey. Between the first canon shot from le chemin de la Grande-Côte and the crackling of last rifle shots, the battle was over in less than five hours.

Using primitive weapons and being captive in their own fortress, the patriots were doomed. If not asphyxiated or burned to death, they would die from the bullets shot by the English soldiers or the volunteers while trying to flee. This is how those who believed in a just cause died: Jean-Olivier Chénier, Joseph Paquet, Jean-Baptiste Lauzé, Nazaire Filion, Séraphin Doré, François Dubé, Joseph Guitard, Pierre Dubeau, Joseph Bonnet, Jean-Baptiste Toupin and Alexis Lachance. With these men of Saint-Eustache several others from the surrounding region and from Sainte-Scholastique would also die.

In his Journal historique, the curé Paquin tells what he saw the day after the battle…

All the beautiful part of the village was nothing more but one big pile of smoking ruins where we could find here and there disfigured corpses, all covered with blood and half-burned. The church was reduced to ashes…

The number of burned houses totaled 60, most of them being amongst the most beautiful. This entire scene of desolation pointed out to carnage and revenge. Saint-Eustache all laid in ruins and the ashes were still smoldering. However there were enough cruel people to completely destroy what the fire had saved. Even pieces of the church bell became easy prey for these looters.

Like many others, Jean-Baptiste Marineau was not implicated directly in the rebellion in St-Eustache. He was more a victim of the British army marching thru St-Eustache in December 1837.

Jean-Baptiste Marineau was born in the early 1800s. No trace of his exact birthplace nor his birthdate can be found in the parish registers. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Marineau and Josette (Josephte) Quenneville. Martin Marineau was his brother, who was also implicated indirectly in the 1837 rebellion in Saint-Eustache.

The 1825 census shows that Marineau was a farmer on le chemin de la Rivière-Nord in Saint-Eustache. In the 1840s, he was the owner of a ferry in Saint-Eustache. In 1851, a few years before his death, the census lists him as a carpenter.

Jean-Baptiste Marineau was the victim of reprisals from soldiers and volunteers when they marched thru Saint-Eustache on December 14th and 15th, 1837.

On February 10th, 1846, he made a claim for £5, 15 sols and 6 deniers to la Commission des Pertes de 1837-1838. Here is the official letter :

His claim was for all these items: a rifle, a sideboard, a bed, a carpenter’s workbench, a coat, a large kettle, a salting tub, twelve terrines, two one-gallon jugs, two barge oars. Two witnesses were present: Paul Rochon and Pierre Vanier.

After the unrest, he signed a petition to rebuild the church destroyed in 1837; this document was dated November 27, 1844.

Jean-Baptiste Marineau died in Saint-Eustache on March 9, 1852. He was 48. He was buried in St-Eustache on March 11, J. Meilleur and Charles Biroleau were acting as witnesses.

– Pierre Ostain and his wife Catherine Justemet lived in Saint-Pierre de Marennes, near Seudre, county-town of Charente-Maritime in France. Jean, a son, emigrated to the New World by crossing the Atlantic. Jean married Jeanne Tardif, daughter of Jacques Tardif and Barbe d’Orange in Beauport, on January 10th 1691. This is the first generation of Marineaus in America.

– A son, Pierre Ostain, married Catherine-Gertrude Lecompte, daughter of Samuel-Jean Lecompte and Marie-Jeanne Jérémie, in Montreal on January 8th, 1731.

– The name Marineau was first used by Jean-Baptiste, son of Pierre Ostain. Jean-Baptiste Marineau dit Ostain married Marie Angélique Chartier, daughter of François Chartier and Hélène Larchevêque, in Longue Pointe, on October 5th, 1767.

– His son Jean-Baptiste Marineau, married Josephte Quenneville, daughter of François Quenneville and Marie Judith Galipeau, at Sault-au-Récollet on September 25th, 1797.

– Martin Marineau is the first Marineau to settle in our region. He married Esther Ducharme, daughter of Joseph Ducharme and Véronique Presseau, in Saint-Eustache on August 6, 1827.

Research by Suzanne Gendre

If you can read French, click here and visit this Website for more information on St-Eustache…